photo by shining.darkness (Flickr CC)

The hackney carriage, better known as a black cab, has been synonymous with London for around 100 years.

Though they’ve changed design over the years, becoming less spacious in the process, black cabs are still recognizable. Now they’ve gone electric.

A Nissan electric black cab, which looks a bit like a mix between a soccer mom’s minivan and a traditional black cab (4 door saloon car), is set to hit London streets as early as next year.

From the Guardian:

Nissan has promised that its new London taxi, a van-like vehicle, can eliminate 20% of the capital’s exhaust pollution caused by its 22,000 black cabs. But the carmaker warned that it was now down to politicians to make electric traffic a practical reality.

In 1999 a hydrogen powered black cab was trialled in London, but only three of the so-called “Millennium Cabs” were ever built and the company who built them, ZeTek, ceased operations in 2001.

Nissan will also build diesel engine black cabs, which look a bit more like the traditional ones and are 50% more fuel efficient than current models.

The main question now is fitting the city with enough EV chargers to power the new electric black cabs.

image credit: sub-urban.com (Flickr CC)

Photographer and urban historian Steve Duncan explores and documents hidden aspects of urbanization and industrialization, from disused missile silos in the United States to the archaeology of Ancient Rome.

In a series for National Geographic, Duncan investigates urban underground rivers. These rivers are not natural phenomena, like some subterranean waterways that run through cave systems, but rather the result of human engineering. For purposes of urban development, for hundreds of years mankind has changed the courses of rivers and streams, covering them up and forcing them underground.

Most of the rivers examined in the series are in New York and London, those iconic urban centers of the West. New York is the more completely urban of the two, a result of extensive and rapid urbanization, while London developed and grew more ‘organically’, since the times of Roman occupation.

Industrialization and/or urbanization may benefit in some ways by forcing these waterways underground, but there is an environmental, and therefore human, cost to consider.

[…] what happens to once-thriving freshwater ecosystems when the rivers they depend on are entombed in sewer pipes beneath layers of concrete and soil? Few species can make the transition to subterranean living. Ironically, it was often rivers and streams that attracted people in the first place, but those very sources of life can fall victim to the expanding concrete jungle.

–National Geographic

Check out the National Geographic series on underground rivers and Steve Duncan’s homepage for more.

photo by Gianpaolo Fusari (wazuluwazu on Flickr CC)

Honey from Newcastle, vegetables grown in Nottingham and London cheese are just a few examples of urban produce now being grown and sold in British cities. All across the country, people are increasingly choosing to grow their own food for reasons of economics, health and in order to feel a connection to their food and the land.

Sustain, a UK alliance for better food and farming, has launched an online project called City Harvest for ‘demonstrating and promoting the benefits of Urban Agriculture’. Sustain’s scheme Capital Growth, funded by the Mayor of London, includes some 1,500 growing spaces in London – a 30-fold increase since its launch in 2008, according to Sustain’s new report, ‘A Growing Trade’.

From the Independent:

Across the country, more than 2,000 new spaces for growing food have been created over the past three years. And this is just the start of the upsurge of inner-city farming. Already, eco-designers have been invited to look round the Olympic site in east London to see if there is potential for a farm after the Games.

For more information on urban farming in London see the following paper, published online by Canada’s office of urban agriculture (don’t be confused it’s still about London, England and not London, Ontario) entitled ‘Economic Costs and Benefits of Urban Agriculture in East London’.

There is also a list of London farms, which are open to visits from the public, on the Mayor of London’s website for young people.

photo by Anita Sarkeesian (Flickr CC)

Protests movements often have trouble gaining the sympathies of the masses of people whom they actually represent.

Corporate media, bragging politicians, the well-funded propaganda of big business and a pervading desire of most people to maintain the status quo (or at least not rock the boat) usually win out over principals of fairness, equality and even the self-interest of the masses themselves.

My inner conservative (read: cynic) thinks that the middle classes as well as the ‘relatively comfortable poor’ will usually choose not to risk what security and wages they have, preferring to go it on their own and stay with the system. Solidarity – both ideological and in terms of real political action – be damned.

But take away enough people’s expectations, crush their dreams (American or European) and to my inner cynic’s surprise, they will rise up, commit in enough numbers and flex their political will so that it is felt throughout all levels of political culture – all the way to the corridors of money and power.

Occupy Wall Street, Occupy London, the Indignados of Spain and Portugal, protests in Greece, Israel and at the upcoming G20 meeting in France are no longer simply being represented as the actions of a few radical trouble makers. The ‘99%’ mantra is ringing true.

Soren Ambrose of anti-poverty group ActionAid is quoted in a report by France 24:

Because of the scale of the financial crisis, ordinary people are being affected. There are many more unemployed people, and people who have lost their homes. It is a different scene now, it is much more political.

A so-called ‘Robin Hood Tax’ finally makes sense to the previously complacent middle classes, meaning common folk are finally recognizing that their political and economic systems effectively allow the rich to steal from the non rich. Even a piece in the Spectator has quoted British PM David Cameron’s acknowledgement that a Robin Hood Tax has ‘wide support’, though the author still makes the dubious claim that ‘The Tories, not the anti-capitalists, are making all the political capital’ from the Occupy London Protests.

You wish.

This kind of desperation by the right wing press reminds me of an issue of the Economist last year which attempted to brand Cameron’s government as some kind of radical punk movement within European politics, when they are in fact the same old conservatives, updated with a sunny disposition and some lip-service to the Green movement. Reference The Smiths and The Clash as much as you want, Tories – you are not revolutionary, you are counter revolutionary.

photo by wheelzwheeler (Flickr CC)

But I’m glad the conservative press is desperate. I am glad there will be a referendum in Greece (even if it will just be used to pass the political blame onto the people rather than the government). I’m glad the mainstream media is covering Occupy protests in New York, Oakland, London and Calgary. I am hopeful that Middle America will realize that Michael Moore is on its side and that Fox News is not.

A Robin Hood Tax, environmental legislation, financial regulation, fair and equal pay, getting money out of politics and putting the rights of people above those of corporations are all things for you, the 99% of humanity. Keep realizing this.

photo by Gerard Stolk vers la Toussaint (Flickr CC)

The London 2012 Olympics is being touted as the “greenest games ever” – though I imagine a more accurate label would be the “greenest Olympics of the last few, relatively speaking”, which is just not as catchy.

The London Olympic project is on the cutting edge of green innovation, however. Carbon emissions have been cut by 100,000 tons, wetlands restored and construction of largest urban park built in Europe for the last 150 years is underway.

One green (or green-ish) project of London 2012 is an entire new neighborhood, called Strand East, being built by Swedish furniture empire IKEA. It will feature water transport and a system of suction-powered tubes to remove rubbish.

From the Independent:

Strand East will include 1,200 houses, nearly half of which will be family homes, as well as shops, cafés and a 350-room hotel – all linked by car-free walkways.

But what of IKEA’s over-all environmental and ethical standards?

On the one hand they are a paragon of consumerism: cheap, disposable, imported, mass-produced furniture that uses an astounding amount of natural resources.

On the other hand they do have a pretty strict environmental and ethical code. IKEA is increasing its use of renewable energy, improving energy efficiency and has rules on where its wood is sourced as well as a policy to prevent child labor.

On the plus side, the company is doing pretty much everything it can to make its products, and stores, as energy-efficient and sustainably produced as possible as part of its programme of ‘neverending improvements’.

–The Ecologist

The problem is of course consumerism and uncontrolled capitalism. It is a model that is inherently unsustainable. So IKEA, for all its efforts (and it is probably the best option – economically, ethically and environmentally – in many cases) is fundamentally not all that green. But neither is the global economic system it operates in.

Read all about IKEA’s environmental credentials in The Ecologist.

Read more about the sustainability of the London 2012 Olympics on BBC News.

photo by Steve Evans (babasteve on Flickr CC)

Researchers from Kings College London are studying the symbiotic relationship between coral and algae living in Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. They found that in order to survive in strong sunlight, coral produces compounds that act as a natural sunscreen.

Scientists hope to use genetic engineering to recreate the compounds in a laboratory back in the UK and eventually develop a sunscreen in pill form.

Since the compound is already present in the food chain in the coral reefs – small fish ingest it while feeding off the coral, larger fish eat them and so on – the scientists hope it can be eventually metabolized by humans.

From BBC News:

Once we recreate the compounds we can put them into a lotion and test them on skin discarded after cosmetic surgery tummy tucks. We will not know how much protection against the sun it might give until we begin testing. But there is a need for better sunscreens.

–Dr Paul Long, King’s College London

It seems that there are two main aspects to this research: one is the slightly creepy idea of genetic engineering that could result in pill popping instead of slathering on sunblock. In fact, this may be an important human health breakthrough and especially useful as the climate changes. In a country like Australia, where many people of Northern European decent live in a hot, sunny climate, it is particularly significant. According to Australia’s Cancer Council “two in three Australians will be diagnosed with skin cancer by the time they are 70”.

The other aspect has to do with the coral reefs themselves and the phenomenon of coral bleaching, which is caused by an increase in water temperature, increased solar radiation, ocean acidification, pollution, etc. Coral colonies die off when the algae that they depend on dies.

Coral reefs are thought to be the Earth’s greatest source of biodiversity, and therefore a potential treasure trove of new medicines.

Check out the following video from King’s College London for more:

See also:

Drink wine, don’t get sunburned (msnbc)

photo by Alistair Knock (Flickr CC)

Check out “Astonish Me”, a short film set in London’s Natural History Museum.

The film stars Bill Nighy and Gemma Arterton, and highlights the discovery of new species around the world.

“Astonish Me” celebrates the 50th anniversary of the WWF and was released in select UK cinemas on July 29th. But you can see it right here!

A magical tale of adventure and discovery showcasing some of the extraordinary species recently found around the world. ‘Astonish Me’ has been created by acclaimed writer Stephen Poliakoff and director Charles Sturridge to celebrate our 50th anniversary.

For more go to the WWF’s Astonish Me page.

photo by bcmacsac1 (Flickr CC)

From London fog to LA smog, citizens groups are up in arms over air quality in the big city.

In the 80s Los Angeles was famous for its smog, caused by endless highways choked with the exhaust of millions of cars. Like the Missing Persons song says, “nobody walks in LA”.

Apparently everyone has asthma instead.

Things have gotten better since the heady 80s and emissions standards have become stricter, but LA is still really smoggy. One study even found that air pollution kills more people in the region than even auto accidents.

Los Angeles is the smoggiest region in the nation, according to the American Lung Assn.’s 2011 State of the Air report. Scientific studies have found that ozone inflames the respiratory system, causing asthma attacks, hospitalizations and premature deaths. “Angelenos continue to breathe smoggy air that makes people sick, forcing mothers to question whether to allow children to play outside on dirty-air days.  These are choices mothers should not have to make,” Martinez said.

–LA Times

Since LA is failing to live up to national clean air standards and the US Environmental Protection Agency is not calling the city out on it, environmental and public health groups are suing the EPA.

Read more on that story in the LA Times.

On the other side of the pond, London isn’t fairing much better. Once home to “pea soup” “London fogs”, London has the worst air pollution in the UK and one of the worse levels in Europe.

Last Saturday a group of citizen activists got on their bikes, took to the streets on and literally lay down in the middle of the road (like The Pretenders song), stopping traffic in central London for a few minutes.

Check out the video from Climate Rush below and read more about the story on Demotix.

– so get ready for more gripping dystopian teenage fiction from Saci Lloyd, author of the breakout novels The Carbon Diaries 2015 and 2017.

Here is a sneak peak at Saci’s epic new novel Momentum, in the form of a video trailer. Momentum’s got free running/parkour, environmental and social crises, young love and the deft mix of humor, adventure and prescience that so impressed reviewers of Lloyd’s previous work.

Check out the blurb and the vid.

London, the near future. Energy wars are flaring across the globe – oil prices have gone crazy, regular power cuts are a daily occurrence. The cruel Kossak soldiers prowl the streets, keeping the Outsiders – the poor, the disenfranchised – in check. Hunter is a Citizen: one of the privileged of society, but with his passion for free running and his rebel friend Leo he cannot help but be fascinated by the Outsiders. So when he meets Outsider Uma, he is quickly drawn into their world – and into an electrifying and dangerous race to protect everything they hold dear.

Momentum will be available in the UK June 2^nd from Hoddler.

Also have a look at the Facebook page (with links) to the seriously humorous podcast by Saci and yours truly: El Pod of Cast and Saci’s homepage sacilloyd.com.

photo by Alan Trotter (Flickr CC)

In not-so-olden times London used to be known as “the Big Smoke” due to all the coal fires that befouled its air and choked its inhabitants. Coal produced the famous London fog, which in reality wasn’t fog at all. A “Pea souper” was a particularly ghastly kind of yellowish smog that belched from the city’s chimneys.

Less metaphorical was the Great Smog of 1952, when a combination of cold weather, winds and pollutants created the worst air pollution in the history of the UK, causing as many as 12,000 deaths.

The Great Smog was soon followed by the Clean Air Act. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Or is it?

Coal fires may be gone, but London’s vehicular traffic – the bane of the modern city – produces untold amounts of harmful pollutants, especially ozone, particulate matter and nitrogen oxides. Britain leads Europe in nitrogen oxides, while London has the worst air quality in the UK.

Lately in the Big Smoke’s battle between smog and breathable air we’ve seen a road tax, a cycle-hire scheme and now the launch of a citywide project for plug-in electric cars.

From the Guardian:

The opening of the Source London scheme means there are now around 400 points in the city, a increase on the roughly 250 previously available to drivers. Ultimately, the plan is to have 1,300 points by 2013, or no more than one mile from every Londoner.

Electric car owners will pay an annual membership fee of £100 to use the charging points.

The UK’s Green Party has criticized London Mayor Boris Johnson for drastically scaling back previous plans for 7,500 points by 2013, eventually culminating 25,000 places to tank up on e-juice.

From BBC News

He has also failed to guarantee that the charging points will run on renewable energy, so the environmental gains are far less than they should be.

– Darren Johnson, Green Party London Assembly

Read more in the Guardian and on BBC News (with video).

Image © Robert Graves and Didier Madoc-Jones

Books like Stephen Baxter’s Flood, Saci Lloyd’s Carbon Diaries 2015 and 2017, Ronald Wright’s A Scientific Romance, and Maggie Gee’s The Flood and Ice Age have depicted a future London either in the violent throws of climate change or after such a radical change has already happened. These books are members of a growing cannon of science or speculative fiction about an often grim future that is difficult for most to conceive of: a vastly altered landscape, a flooded, tropical or frozen London which presents challenges that either crush or ignite the humanity of its inhabitants.

Though most of these books are new, they come from an older tradition in Science Fiction: dystopia. HG Welles’ The Time Machine (1895) would be an early example of the genre and even features weather control or geo engineering. The 1973 film Soylent Green, starring Charlton Heston, depicts an ultra hot New York City in the year 2022 and mentions dying ocean plankton.

For both fans of dystopian fiction and those interested in climate change, the museum of London is running a display called ‘London Futures’ until March 6^th featuring photomontages depicting artists’ visions of London after experiencing a profound change in climate.

The display brings home the full impact of global warming, food scarcity, rising sea levels and how all Londoners will need to innovate and adapt to survive.

The London Futures exhibit also features several events including a talk by noted UK environmentalist Sir Crispin Tickell and a competition in cooperation with the Metro newspaper in which anyone is welcome to upload their own image of a future London and win a place in the exhibit plus an Apple iPad.

Check out 15 of the London Futures images in this article from the Telegraph:

Postcards from the future: illustrators imagine how London could be affected by climate change

Londonfutures.com

photo by J.A. Alcaide (Flickr CC)

And you just thought you lived over a tube line.

The threat of earthquakes in London is far greater than previously estimated, according to the British Geological Survey.

Though not exactly an earthquake hotspot, the southeast of England should be more prepared for seismic activity that could cause damage to buildings.

Back in 1931 a 6.1 magnitude quake occurred of the coast of Yorkshire, but was powerful enough to knock the head off of a wax figure in Madame Tussauds in London. In 1580 two people died and many buildings were damaged due to tremors originating on the Dover Strait.

The size of London in terms of population is about 50 times more today than it was then. So if two people were killed in London in 1580, you can imagine for yourself what sort of scaling up that could mean for a contemporary earthquake of the same size

–Dr Roger Musson, British Geological Survey

In December 2008, while living in Malmö, Sweden, I was shaken from my blissful slumber by what I thought must have been a bus hitting my apartment building. It turns out it was an earthquake measuring between 4.5-5 on the Richter scale.

Don’t expect London Bridge to be falling down anytime, however.

Read more about the risks of quakes in London in the following article from BBC News:

Quakes are ‘an issue for London’

photo by Tasa_M (Flickr CC)

The top cities in England for green transport include Nottingham, London, Brighton, Hove and Manchester.

Nottingham came out top in a study of UK cities that gauged the East Midlands town to be the least dependent on cars and have the best public transport.

The CBT, a green lobby group, judged the cities on accessibility and planning; quality and availability of public transport; and how pedestrian and cyclist friendly they are.

From a report by the Press Association:

The findings showed that in many cities people have little choice but to drive cars. Campaign for Better Transport (CBT) used a Car Dependency Scorecard to look at how much people rely on cars, using data from 17 sources to rank 19 cities in England.

Over the past decade, Nottingham council has invested heavily in public transport, including a tramline. The results have been that more people now use public transport than cars.

From an article in the Guardian:

Nottingham topped the survey ahead of London despite a multi-billion pound taxpayer investment in the capital’s tube and bus services that is the envy of sister cities across the UK. Brighton came third, reflecting its much-admired bus network, its umbilical rail links with London and a size perfectly pitched for commuting cyclists and walkers. Manchester won fourth place despite tarnishing its progressive transport credentials two years ago by rejecting a congestion charge scheme.

The heavily car-dependent towns of Luton, Peterborough and Milton Keynes rounded out the bottom of the list. Milton Keynes, a ‘new town’ located 45 miles or 72 km northwest of London and established in 1967, was planned as a green or ‘garden city’ in the sense that it contains many parks, trees and wide open spaces, and is less dense than most towns. But the bus system is poor and the road traffic isn’t busy, so most everyone drives.

The rankings juxtapose modern city planning based on car travel against more dense, traditional cityscapes that have been adapted for cycling and collective transportation.

Additional resources:

This is Nottingham – New research reveals Nottingham to be the least car dependent city in the UK

photo by London Permaculture (Flickr CC)

From the sublime to the ridiculous, but mostly somewhere in between, France24 reports on ‘extreme greens’, i.e. those who go that extra mile for the environment.

Sometimes its silly, like throwing seed bombs so that illegal vegetation grows in Europe’s concrete-covered cities, at other times it’s couples making a serious lifetime commitment to not have children – but it’s all for the sake of the planet.

Check out the following video report from France24:

Extreme Green

photo by Steve Cadman (stevecadman on Flickr Creative Commons)

On Friday London begins its well-publicized bicycle rental scheme, introduced by mayor Boris Johnson, run by London Transport and sponsored by Barclays plc.

Over the past few years London has become more cycle-friendly with more bike lanes and cycle paths, reducing stress on public and private transport – which have both become more costly, thereby encouraging more people to travel by bike.

But despite recent growth in cycle traffic, London still trails other British cities and lags astronomically behind the European bicycle Meccas of Amsterdam and Copenhagen.

Enter Barclays Cycle Hire, which resembles bike rental schemes in other European and world cities, some of which are even free.

From a BBC News report:

The scheme, which begins on Friday, will make 6,000 bikes available from 400 locations across central London.

So far around 3,000 Londoners have registered, with expenses including a ₤3 key for activation and rates ranging from ₤1 for a day to ₤45 (€54) for annual membership. On top of membership fees are rates starting at a free first half hour, ₤1 for up to an hour, ₤4 for up to 1.5 hours, climbing all the way up to ₤50 for 24 hours.

I’m having visions of people picking up a cycle for a quick ride, getting sidetracked in the pub and suddenly owing a fortune to London Transport.

I guess convenience is the name of the game and responsible (non-drunk) shrewd users should benefit and take advantage of the scheme, but as one critical article points out, for people who are willing cycle even semi-regularly, it’s better to just buy a used bike:

It works in the same way that budget airlines make their money. Play the game well, and you can really benefit. After all, a good second-hand bike will probably put you back somewhere in the region of £100 – which with the cycle hire scheme, works out at a month and a half of cycling for an hour a day.

–Moneywise.co.uk

Of course, maybe the scheme will encourage people to do just that and give tourists and occasional cyclists a good, green option when they fancy – or need – it.

Barclays Cycle Hire is also a conspicuous example of the corporatization and commercialization of public space in London and the rest of the UK, which has become more and more prominent since the reign of Margaret Thatcher  – and has apparently never looked back.

For more on this line, check out the following piece in the Guardian, which does not necessarily criticize the cycle hire scheme, but rather how one aspect of it represents the sometimes-insidious transfer of public space into private hands:

Boris Johnson’s London Cycle Hire scheme flogs our birthright to Barclays

Graham Land

photo by Rita Willaert (Flickr Creative Commons)

Mining giant Vedanta Resources will be having its annual shareholders meeting on Wednesday in London, where the company is headquartered. But this year, shareholders will be met by a well-publicized protest.

Activist groups including Amnesty International have consistently criticized Vedanta for human rights violations and poor environmental practices, particularly in the Indian state of Orissa.

From an article in the Observer:

[…] a damning Amnesty report criticised Vedanta’s record in Orissa, where it runs an alumina refinery at the foot of the Niyamgiri hills, alleging river pollution and damage to crops. The hills are home to around 8,000 Dongria Kondh people who allege their health has been affected by Vedanta’s activities.

This time the protest in London will be lead by Survival International and include a group of activists painted as blue Na’vi warriors as featured in the blockbuster film Avatar. It’s a clever bit of life imitating art imitating life.

The Dongria Kondh are likened to Avatar’s Na’vi: indigenous inhabitants with an ecologically friendly lifestyle that is being threatened by a large, evil corporation.

Michael Palin, of Monty Python fame, is also lending a valuable celebrity voice to the campaign for the Dongria Kondh people.

For more on the plight of the Kondh, read this article by Bianca Jagger in the Observer:

The battle for the Niyamgiri

Graham Land

Additional resources:

Sify – Protest in London to stop mining project in Orissa

Simple as that. Photo by piblet (source: Flickr Creative Commons)

Today’s temperatures are predicted go as high hit 30C (85F) making it the hottest day of the year in England, with temperatures highest in London and the southeast.

World cup fever – and the more civilized pursuit of eating strawberries and cream whilst watching a considerably smaller yellow ball move backwards and forwards at a much faster rate than a football ever could when North Korea are not playing – is gripping the country.

But so is a heatwave.

According to an article in the Guardian, ‘MeteoGroup weather forecaster Steve Ellison said the heatwave was caused by a ridge of high pressure across central and eastern England.’

But I’m just going to ignore that and say it’s because of global warming.

That’s right, I’ll take a page from the climate change skeptic’s book and flip it on its head. What’s the point of sticking to science anyway?

Mitchell & Webb – Global Warming Skeptic

Enjoy your global warming while it still just means that there are more days when it isn’t absolute hell to lie down on a rocky English beach. Unless you’re an old person of course, which means you have a slightly higher chance of dying during the night. Gosh, I almost sounded alarmist there.

By Graham Land

Additional resources:

Telegraph – Cities to get hotter at night, predicts Met Office

Times – Night-time temperatures could rise above 25C because of climate change

photo by BerylM (source: Flickr Creative Commons)

Raccoon dogs from East Asia, yellow-tailed scorpions from Italy, ringnecked parakeets from India and Australian red-necked wallabies are some of the more exotic non-native species now residing – and often thriving – in parts of the UK.

Common invasive pests that folks often moan about include grey squirrels and minks from North America, which eat or outcompete some native species. No complaints about small numbers of Chinese muntjac deer, now endangered in Asia, however. Many non-natives walk the line between exotic curiosities and invasive pests, such as wallabies in Scotland and colorful parakeets in London parks. I doubt many Brits fancy stepping on a poisonous scorpion during a summer walk in Kent, though.

From an article in the Telegraph:

More obscure animals residing in the UK include the coati, also known as the Brazilian aardvark, with around 10 believed to be living wild in Cumbria, and snapping turtles, which were first identified in a garden pond in 1993.

A new study called the Eden Wildlife Report examines these non-native species and what types of threats they pose to native wildlife in the UK.

The author of the report is quoted in an article for the Independent:

The report shows that a number of exotic, non-native species currently existing in the wild in the UK are considered to pose a threat to some indigenous species. This threat is expected to manifest itself by leading to a potential loss of these indigenous species.

–Dr Toni Bunnell, University of Hull

An interesting point I often think of when reading about tropical species surviving in far-flung, sometimes freezing cold, environments is how remarkable it is that they survive – even thrive – in habitats so different from the ones they evolved in. This may offer clues into how certain species will react to climate change when it invades their homes. Maybe they’re invading us as a bit of payback. After all it was we who brought them here in the first place.

Additional resources:

CBBC ­– Exotic animals living in UK

photo by eddie gunn (source: Flickr Creative Commons)

The UK – particularly London – has been buzzing with wildlife news of late. There’s been a lot of man vs. beast, invasive beast vs. native beast and even man vs. himself.

The biggest of these stories has to be the case of the urban fox attacking twin baby girls in an east London house. The young fox slipped into the open house one unusually warm evening and viciously bit the babies about the arms and face as they slept in their upstairs bedroom. The incident has inspired strong reactions – sometimes bordering on the hysterical – public debate and plenty of media discussion of the event and the UK’s fox situation in general.

Fox attacks against people are unusual, but not unheard of. Urban foxes, increasingly common in London, are both loved and hated by the city’s residents, who either enjoy a bit of wild in their streets or dislike having their rubbish bins raided by the noisy nocturnal bandits.

Read more about the incident and Britain’s urban foxes in the Guardian piece entitled ‘Invasion of the urban foxes’.

In other UK ‘invasive’ species news, moles are making a huge comeback – to the chagrin of many farmers and gardeners. The Independent reports that exterminator calls regarding moles have gone up by a factor of three during the past two years. But are they actually pests?

They are insectivores and their diet could include such common nasties as cockchafer larvae and wire worms which can do an awful lot of damage to plants.

– David Wembridge, People’s Trust for Endangered Species

Meanwhile, the cute, tufted-eared indigenous red squirrel is set to receive some aid in reestablishing itself on the British Isles. According to a report in the Telegraph, the nearly extinct red squirrels will get a royal helping hand from Prince Charles against their competing cousins, the North American grey squirrels who, since arriving in the UK over 100 years ago, have outmuscled the reds – along with some help from the pox. It’s all very medieval sounding.

But first thousands of grey squirrels will have to be trapped and killed, sparking the anger of animal rights groups.

–Telegraph

Though the invasive grey squirrels do damage to hardwood saplings, I suspect it’s superficiality that really gets the sympathy going. They’re smaller, less ‘ratty’ and just damn well cuter than the Yank squirrels, by Jove.

by Graham Land

Additional resources:

Telegraph – Joanna Lumley: Fox cull would be a ‘tragedy’

WSBTV (Atlanta) – Caught On Tape: Wild Fox Attacks Man

Independent – In pursuit of London’s Public Enemy No. 1

Image Source: Screen capture from BritishLand.com.

I have traveled a lot throughout my life. I’ve been camping, crashed on friends’ couches, and have stayed at an ungodly amount of hotels. Very rarely have the accommodations ever reached 5-star status (as they are typically out of my price range). It almost makes me wish I was a London insect—they’re getting a choice of 5-star accommodations for free.

Yes, it certainly sounds strange and bizarre, but check this out. To continue the celebration of 2010 as the International Year of Biodiversity, British Land and The City of London Corporation have teamed up to create the Beyond the Hive competition. Between the 7th and 19th of June, 5 insect hotels are to be constructed at the following places: Bunhill Fields, West Smithfield, Postman’s Park, St. Dunstan’s in the East, and Cleary Garden.

These hotels are designed to provide top housing for (and also attract) a variety of bugs or insects, including: butterflies, lacewings, ladybirds (or ladybugs), solitary bees, stag beetles, and spiders. The designs are expected to be both ecologically sustainable and creative. You can check out a list of the 5 finalists here.

Once the 5-star insect hotels finish construction, people can visit them at their designated parks and vote for their favorite design between June 19th and 28th. Two Golden Beetle awards will be presented during the London Festival of Architecture—one to the winner of an online public vote and the other to a winner chosen by an expert judging panel.

To find out more about the competition, designs, and voting, check out this site!

By Heidi Marshall